Sgutrrel on the Ground. 257 
and perches on a branch right overhead, uttering his 
harsh note, something like turning a small rattle. 
But he stays a moment only: he is one of the most 
suspicious of birds, and has instantly observed that 
there is some one near. A magpie crosses the mead 
and disappears. 
Something moving yonder in the grass catches the 
eye; it is a reddish bushy tail, apparently without a 
body, yet held nearly upright, and moving hither and 
thither in a quick, nervous way. Suddenly down it 
goes, and the squirrel raises himself on his haunches 
to listen to some suspicious sound, holding his forefeet 
something like a kangaroo. Then he recommences 
searching and the tail rises, alone visible above the tall 
grass. Now he bounds, and as his body passes through 
the air the tail extends behind and droops so that he 
seems to form an arch. After working along ten or 
fifteen yards in one direction, he stops, turns sharp 
round, and comes all the way back again. Some 
distance farther, under the trees, two more are frisking 
about, and a rabbit has come to nibble the grass in 
the open. 
Looking across to the other side, where the fern 
recommences, surely there was a movement as if a 
branch was shaken ; and a branch that, on.second 
thought, is in such a position that it cannot be con- 
nected with any tree. Again, and then the head and 
neck of a stag are lifted above the fern. He is at- 
tacking a tree—rubbing his antlers against a low 
Ss 
